Various applications exist where low voltages are used to power a circuit or system. As one example, gas powered appliances may use a self-powered control circuit and/or system. In this respect, a thermally activated power source is typically used to provide electrical power to such a control circuit and/or system. Such thermally activated power sources typically have limited voltage potential. Therefore, a direct current to direct current voltage converter (DC-DC converter) is normally employed in such circuits to “step-up” (or “boost”) the voltage produced by the thermally activated (or other low potential) DC source. In certain applications, it may also be desirable that such a DC-DC converter includes a self-starting oscillator (e.g. an oscillator that starts when a voltage potential is applied to it). Such DC-DC converters may be termed self-starting boost converters.
Current approaches for such DC-DC converters, however, have certain limitations. For example, such DC-DC converters with self-starting oscillators may have power conversion efficiencies (the ratio of output power to input power) on the order of less than twenty percent (20%). Depending on the electrical power consumed by a particular circuit coupled with such a DC-DC converter, there may be insufficient electrical energy produced to supply enough power to the circuit. Therefore, alternative approaches for implementing such DC-DC converters may be desirable.